S02.E10: Yousaf

[sistermagpie]

3 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I think the atheist thing is strictly Elizabeth and it fits her personality.  

It's definitely explicit that they're both atheists. Philip just doesn't see Paige going to church as necessarily a threat to him. I think underneath, without being able to articulate it, he's better able to see that the thing he doesn't like about Pastor Tim are about things that were done to him as a kid, where as Elizabeth is more likely to see the church as a threat because it's indoctrinating her the wrong way.

[Roseanna]

On ‎1‎.‎5‎.‎2014 at 10:06 AM, AlliMo said:

I liked the parallel of going straight from the scene where Paige asks to be a CIT at Bible camp, to a scene where Nina talks about being a Young Pioneer.

Yes, but the screenwriters make an error by making Oleg to claim that he wasn't a Young Pioneer. Practically all Soviet schoolchildren were. So Oleg certainly was, too (although he didn't participate in the summer camp) and later he was a member of Komsomol. I am not sure if he is old enough to be a member of the Communist Party but that would be the next step.

The Soviets didn't send abroad people who weren't ideologically trustworthy.   

On ‎15‎.‎7‎.‎2014 at 5:28 AM, sistermagpie said:

The Soviets were atheist. Russians historically aren't always atheist. I think going to church would have been considered really weird in the USSR where P&E lived.

Old women went to church in the Soviet Union, but it would be harmful to anyone who wanted to make a career. 

Some childen had a granny who taught them about religion,  but P&E's only information about religion had probebly been atheism taught in school, until they became to America. Well, under their training they must have taught something.   

[sistermagpie]

56 minutes ago, Roseanna said:

The Soviets didn't send abroad people who weren't ideologically trustworthy.   

Plus, Oleg's father is very important. The idea that he wasn't a Young Pioneer is one of the most bizarre pieces of dialogue they ever had on the show. I'm really surprised Costa Ronin just didn't correct it so he was saying he didn't go to the camp but certainly was a pioneer. I don't get how that got in there.

[Roseanna]

6 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Plus, Oleg's father is very important. The idea that he wasn't a Young Pioneer is one of the most bizarre pieces of dialogue they ever had on the show. I'm really surprised Costa Ronin just didn't correct it so he was saying he didn't go to the camp but certainly was a pioneer. I don't get how that got in there.

And "very important" in the Soviet Union meant than he was a member of the Communist Party and nomenklatura, which meant all kind of priviledges including special shops. That doesn't necessarily mean that the father was an ideological enthusiast but more likely a careerist.

But all parents who weren't religious or dissentens, wanted their children to join Pioneers and Komsomol, for otherwise they couldn't make a career. Also teachers pressured their pupils.

And most children wanted to like others, just like Paige first went to the church because of her new friend.  

[Roseanna]

On ‎1‎.‎5‎.‎2014 at 6:43 AM, Hal25 said:

Larrick wants out and he told them so. Then they went and killed a bunch of people rather than just take pictures like they were going to.

They didn't intend to kill but killed only because they would caught otherwise. As a member of special forces, Larrick would be stupid not to realize that it was a possibility in a mission like that.

And they weren't just taking some photos, these photos were intended to use to discreditate the USA for teaching the contras - which I think is fine as I don't like such methods the contras used, but from Larricks POV, he betrayed both his country and his comrades by letting P&E to the training camp. That he is now whining about his dead comrades is utter self-deception as ultimately he is responsible for their deaths.

Even if P&E blackmailed him, he could have given them false information and led them to the trap, preferably not to be caught but to be killed. Or refused to help and made a suicide. 

[Armchair Critic]

I know I am many years behind and nobody may read this but I have got to say that I live in an area where we get a lot of snow and I have never seen anyone use an umbrella when it is snowing. Maybe it was meant to show that Gaad and Arkady are bureaucrats who don't get their hands dirty?

[sistermagpie]

7 minutes ago, Armchair Critic said:

I know I am many years behind and nobody may read this but I have got to say that I live in an area where we get a lot of snow and I have never seen anyone use an umbrella when it is snowing. Maybe it was meant to show that Gaad and Arkady are bureaucrats who don't get their hands dirty?

Maybe it was something to do with filming? Like it was somehow better to get the performances if they had an umbrella keeping the snow out of their faces? Or it kept it from piling them up on them too much? I've never seen many people using umbrellas when it's snowing either. Usually it's just a hat.

[Armchair Critic]

4 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I've never seen many people using umbrellas when it's snowing either. Usually it's just a hat.

I'm glad somebody is still reading! It just struck me as odd that these two men in the type of hyper-masculine jobs they have would use an umbrella, this may come off as sexist but I would think they would consider an umbrella to be wimpy. When I went to Russia the streets weren't even plowed, so Arkady especially should be used to snow or has he gone soft being in America? 

[sistermagpie]

15 hours ago, Armchair Critic said:

I'm glad somebody is still reading! It just struck me as odd that these two men in the type of hyper-masculine jobs they have would use an umbrella, this may come off as sexist but I would think they would consider an umbrella to be wimpy. When I went to Russia the streets weren't even plowed, so Arkady especially should be used to snow or has he gone soft being in America? 

It is kinda weird--makes it seem like it's making some statement about how even though they represent different countries on different sides of the Cold War they're bonded by the fact that they both have this very rare, weird habit of using an umbrella for snow!